Posts filed under ‘College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’
Michael Mann Profiled in Philadelphia Inquirer
We’ve gotten a number of letters to the editor lately from people who have, let’s just say, very strong feelings on the subject of global climate change—and especially on the “climategate” brouhaha involving Penn State meteorology professor Michael Mann. Some of the discourse has been a bit less than civil: One reader called Mann “this low life on our faculty”; another said, “I am embarrassed that Mr. Mann is a part of Penn State. I would be disappointed if the University wasn’t doing all they can to send him to a different climate.”
So I was very interested to see a profile of Mann in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. Writer Faye Flam came up to University Park this past week to interview Mann and has produced a fairly level-headed profile, one that examines the controversy in a calmer, more nuanced way. It’s worth reading.
Tina Hay, editor
More on ‘Climategate’
I’m a fan of FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. They do a good job of trying to sort out truth from fiction in many public policy debates, and I’ve found that on any given issue—be it the health-care debate or stimulus spending or immigration—they will painstakingly correct misstatements made by both sides.
So I was interested to see them weigh in yesterday on “Climategate,” the brouhaha involving several climate scientists (including Penn State faculty member Michael Mann). In a nutshell, FactCheck.org says:
Climate skeptics are claiming that they show scientific misconduct that amounts to the complete fabrication of man-made global warming. We find that to be unfounded.
If you’re interested in the issue, I really recommend taking the time to read their analysis carefully. It’s very thorough and thoughtful.
Tina Hay, editor
Michael Mann and ‘Climategate’
The news last week that e-mail exchanges between prominent climate scientists had been hacked and made public — news that, probably not coincidentally, came a couple of weeks before the upcoming international climate conference in Copenhagen — has been overshadowed only by “news” about Tiger Woods’ personal life. Language in some of the e-mails seems to imply that scientists have hidden or altered climate change data. And a Penn State professor has been near the center of it.
Michael E. Mann, professor of meteorology and director of the University’s Earth System Science Center, is one of two climate scientists whose work and reputation are being questioned after the e-mail leak. Mann — one of five Penn State faculty members who participated in our climate change roundtable back in 2007 — has long been a leading voice among those pointing to man-made CO2 emissions as the primary cause of global warming. He’s one of the scientists involved in the Web site realclimate.org. And he’s also a favorite target of those who don’t buy the idea of man-made warming — “skeptics” or “deniers,” depending on your point of view.
Plenty of blog space has been taken up on the topic since the story broke. And while the story continues to develop — a few days ago, the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences released a statement (which you can read in PDF form here) announcing it would, per University policy, “look into the matter further” — we’ve found a few stories that offer a reasoned take on the controversy to date, including this one from Science Magazine, and this from Bloomberg News. You also can read Mann’s own explanation of some of the e-mails in question.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Holiday Travel Advice
I’m thankful that for the first time in five years, I can have Thanksgiving dinner with my family simply by jumping in the car and driving a couple of hours west. (A drive that is, incidentally, way easier than it was when I was a student thanks to I-99 and some road-widening on Route 22. No more interminable five-hour bus rides from State College to downtown Pittsburgh for me!)
Those of you who need to brave the airport should take a look at these travel tips from Ben Mutzabaugh ’97 EMS, USA Today’s travel guru. He stresses something I’ve always aspired to, although I’ve not always achieved it: No matter how frustrated you are, be nice to the airline employees.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Penn State’s Fancy Weather Center
This past weekend was Parents & Families Weekend—an event sponsored by the Alumni Association and the Division of Student Affairs—and among the approximately 2,793 events available was an open house at the Joel N. Myers Weather Center, on the sixth floor of Walker Building.
The weather center was just renovated this past year. Last month Penn State announced that Joel Myers ’61, ’63g, ’71g, founder of AccuWeather, has pledged a $2 million gift to support the center, which has been renamed in his honor.
It’s a pretty impressive operation, starting with the bank of monitors you see as soon as you walk in the door. (See photos above and at left.) They offer views of just about every piece of weather data you could possibly need: NASA satellite images of Earth, U.S. surface temperatures, sunspot activity, you name it. Plus Webcam views of everywhere from Erie to Burlington to Paris.
Two students, Matt Rydzik and Greg Ferro, led the tour. We learned that the Campus Weather Service is the largest student-run weather forecasting operation in the country. We also learned that the students spend enormous amounts of time, well into the wee hours, working at the weather center. Apparently the running joke is that if you don’t like your roommate, it’s OK—you can just live at the weather center.
We saw a computer lab, which still has a chalkboard with State College’s climatology data going back to 1887. The student giving the tour said that during the renovations last spring, they deliberately kept the chalkboard as a holdover from the old weather center. It’s kind of charming, albeit a little hard to read, as you can see. (You can click on any of these photos to see them bigger.) The student mentioned that the Pennsylvania state climatologist is a Penn State faculty member: Paul Knight ’75, ’77g.
The other fun room we visited was the TV studio, on the fifth floor of the same building, where we found another student, Drew Anderson. One of the parents on the tour recognized Drew immediately: “Aren’t you the guy who did the weather on Game Day last weekend?” (He is.)
The studio is where the TV show Weather World originates; it’s also used for classes and for students to do occasional forecasts on ESPN-U. Drew showed us the TV equipment—the green screen and all that—and also talked about some of the art involved in being on TV, like taking a step toward the camera when there’s a point he wants to emphasize.
About the only thing we didn’t get to see was the roof of Walker Building, which is home to a lot of weather instruments, and which supposedly offers a very nice view of campus. One of the student guides told me that there are just too many important research instruments up there to allow a lot of tours to tromp through. Which is understandable. But clearly I need to go back over sometime and talk one of the faculty into taking me up there. I’ll report back when I do.
I’ll close with just one more photo for you; actually it’s a strip of three photos of some of the monitors in the Joel Myers Weather Center. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in any of these images, but they sure are pretty to look at.
Tina Hay, editor
P.S. Among the other events of Parents & Families Weekend was an open house at the president’s office in Old Main, along with a trip to the Old Main bell tower. You can see photos from that at live.psu.edu.
Another Tribute to Bill Cahir
Yesterday’s Washington Post contains this lovely, touching account of Monday’s funeral for Bill Cahir ’90 at Arlington National Cemetery.
Tina Hay, editor
More on Bill Cahir
Bill Cahir ’90, who was killed Aug. 13 in Afghanistan, was buried yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Washington Post had a story yesterday and the Centre Daily Times has one today. In addition, you can hear an NPR piece on him here and see NBC’s Brian Williams pay tribute to him here. I was especially moved by the grief on the faces of his family in the NBC video; my heart just aches for them.
Anyone interested in making a memorial contribution can visit the Web site of the Bill Cahir Memorial Fund.
Tina Hay, editor
Mel Goldstein Still Going Strong
When we wrote about meteorologist Mel Goldstein ’67 in the November/December 2002 issue, “Dr. Mel” had just celebrated his “66-month bash.” That is, he had survived 66 months since being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a virulent cancer of the bone marrow. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is 33 months; Dr. Mel had just doubled it.
Nearly seven years after that article, Dr. Mel is still going strong, as this profile in the East Haven (Conn.) Courier attests. He’s still the full-time morning weatherman on WTNH-TV in New Haven, and he has a new book coming out in September: Connecticut Climate Book. The story says Dr. Mel just finished two and a half years of “weekend marathon writing sessions.”
Which is an amazing pace for anyone, let alone someone battling a serious disease.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
More on the Chevy Volt
Just a few days after General Motors used its new blog to introduce battery engineer Mel Fox ’95 EMS to readers, it made headlines for the project Fox is working on: the Chevy Volt. It announced Tuesday that the electric car will get an estimated 230 miles per gallon.
Yes, that’s a number to get your attention. There’s some debate over what that number really means; it’s based on a formula that The New York Times called “abstract.”
Clearly, however, Fox is playing an important role. You can read our earlier post about her job here.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Behind the Scenes of the Chevy Volt
Mel Fox ’95 MS EMS says that her favorite car is her boyfriend’s 1969 Camaro. That’s undeniably a cool car, but it certainly falls into the “gas guzzler” category. (Excuse me. Muscle car.) In her professional life, though, Fox is working on a car that’s at the opposite end of the spectrum — the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid in development.
Fox was featured this week on a new General Motors blog that is focusing on the people behind its technology. She’s a battery engineer, and her job is “ensuring the Volt batteries will last as long as possible — think of me as an advocate for the Volt battery!”
Fox’s path is no surprise. We mentioned her in a 2006 article about students working on a hybrid SUV for the ChallengeX competition, which was sponsored by GM and the U.S. Department of energy. You can click here to download a PDF of our article.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Subscribe
